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Hey Y'all from the Mountains of Colorado

Hey y'all.

I'm the proud owner of a 1991 D50 with problems. I love my truck but it's definitely needed more than its fair share of work done to it. Most recently a new transfer case, though I've also replaced the starter a few times, the speedometer cable, and had a friend replace a whole lot more for me. My boyfriend recently posted http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...er-case-Helppp having to do with the transfer case. God willing it's warm enough I'll be out there working on it some more tomorrow. Any ideas? I try to do all the work I can on my own for money savings but this is killing me.

Also, any good diagrams out there for the horn? It hasn't worked since I got the thing, though I haven't looked into it too much because of everything else I've been working on but I'm going to have to dive into that soon.

Anyways, nice to know there is a website like this out there and glad to be a part of it.

Well hello Kit, it's nice to see the opposite sex taking part in working on one of these trucks. It's a rare site to have a GF that jumps in and gets her hands dirty fixing her truck. Your BF is a very lucky guy.

Let's see if we can get your Horn Class 101 out for you.

An automobile horn is actually a very simple piece of noise. It usually has 2 wires connected to it. One is a ground and the other is positive power. The power does not make a connection until you honk the horn button manually. The horn usually gets it's power from the battery by going through a relay that triggers a direct connection to battery. So the power is taken from the battery instead of the dash power supply. Some horns can take a big chunk of power on their initial blast. Air Horns are notorious for robbing lots of voltage when you use them, but your truck doesn't have air horns. It uses a diaphragm and vibrates incredibly fast creating the honk sound. Car horns rarely ever go out, so it is most likely an electrical problem. You can test your horn very easily by attaching 2 wires to the horn connectors. one wire will touch to a good (Negative)ground on the truck. Take the other wire (Positive +) and just tap it against the Positive battery post. It should immediately make a circuit and honk. Once you have accomplished that, you will know the horn is AOK. The problem is somewhere between the horn and the horn button inside the truck. Check your fuse panel for a burnt fuse in the horn slot. It should be marked on the fuse panel cover. If the fuse is good, then it is most like the connection between the power wire coming to the horn button, or leaving the button to the horn or to ground. You can check if it is a ground problem by connecting a ground wire to the ground side of the horn and attach other end to any part of the vehicles frame. This is Negative ground. Once that is done, your half way there. The horn just needs to make a connection when you push the horn button and receive power at the same time. Now what I think it probably is, is the connection from the horn button on the steering wheel and the electrical connector ring behind the horn button. Perhaps the ring is worn out or the wire is broken or it just doesn't connect when horn button is pushed.
These rings have a small electric paddle that rides the surface of the ring and maintains a connection while driving. Typically the paddle gets lifted off the surface of the ring and the horn stops working or the ring gets worn down to the plastic from so much turning the wheel. I would check to be sure the paddle is touching the ring and the wire is connected to the ring. This is the most problematic area of a horn.

Typical relay switch

Here is a download link for a complete shop manual that has your year truck information in it. It will have electrical diagrams and helpful troubleshooting techniques to help you through the mechanical work or wiring.http://www.onsiteconcrete.net/d-50/F...-1983-1993.zip

Thank you for your help with that. I've always been able to jump into a vehicle and figure out most of the mechanical workings in it however the electrical side can really screw with me. It's always been like that for me. So I appreciate all the electrical help and insights I can get especially with fixing this horn, re-wiring my KC lights and putting in my new (passed down to me) amp and sub. Thanks!

When it comes to me working on my truck. I oddly enough learned most of it from my ma who was a C-130 mechanic in the USAF. When she got out to raise me she transferred her knowledge from aircrafts to vehicles and taught me along the way. My granddad wanted to show me the ins and outs of cars on his '70 Chevelle but I lived in a different state and was never around long enough for him to truly teach me. The first vehicle I really worked on (other than changing brakes and oil and such) was a '71 Jeep Wagoneer with the optional 360 V8 and now my Ram 50 and my '09 Harley Nightster. So that's a little history on that. Josh, my boyfriend has actually been the one handing me tools quite a few times, for example, when we were going to the shooting range and one of the bolt casings on my starter shattered and I had to replace it in the O'Reilley Auto Parts parking lot. We've gotten out fair share of funny looks doing that but I'll admit, I still need him to do some of the heavy lifting and I'm glad that we help each other instead of one or the other of us not knowing a thing about fixing a vehicle.

Anyways, thanks again for all the help and here are some pics though they're not very good which is sad considering I have a Photography Degree... I need to take it out and get some good photos once I have it up and running again...

Honestly, I don't know... It was on their when I bought it and haven't thought much of it. I can find out this weekend when I'm out there finishing the t-case/tranny work I'm doing (I finally figured out what I have to do to get the job done). Though.. I will tell ya, that here soon I'm going to be replacing it because it's pretty badly rusted and has been since I bought it two years ago.

Eventually I'm wanting a new push bar, new step ups, and a roll bar. But I've got some more work to do under the hood before I can put money into that.